A Fading No One
by Abalisk
Summary: Dying was definitely not on her list of to-do's and being sent to a world of battle-crazed swordsman with freaky superpowers was absolutely on her list of NOPE'S. Too bad she didn't get a choice...
1. Donning the Pine Overcoat

**A/N:** A Bleach story that has been rattling around for a while during the times that I am coming up with new content for 'Like the Blade of a Knife' and slowly making edits to 'From the Sea of Souls'... I think I have too many story ideas.

Ah, well...

Anywho, come check out my Tumblr! Where I post some extra character info, fanart, and other neat things! And if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. No spoilers though. ;)

 **TUMBLR:** fanfiction-by-abalisk

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A Fading No One

By: Azhdah

Chapter 1: Donning the Pine Overcoat

 _In the event of your inevitable and rather unavoidable demise, what is the first thing you expect to see?_

 _Do you see yourself bathed in a holy light, a chorus of angels singing and trumpeting as you ascend into the heavens? Do you sprout wings of alabaster and rejoice with your ancestors in the Almighty Presence? Or do you imagine falling into a burning pit? Torched and tormented for all eternity while the twisted faces of demons and devils cackle with glee. Perhaps your imagined afterlife is being reincarnated as something noble and fierce, like an eagle or the one of the Queen of England's corgis._

 _Or maybe you are dull and unimaginative like me and don't have any afterlife aspirations—your preferred end is just being cold and dead in the dirt._

 _Not to say that I find religious nightmare fuel to be boring by any means, but any of those scenarios is just too unrealistic and creepy-as-hell to want for myself. For one, I highly doubt I would even remotely like any of my ancestors, demon torture seems way too intense for someone as boring as myself, and reincarnation? No. Just no. I already died once thank you—I don't need a repeat like a goddamn broken record! Just give me my one way dirt nap either by pine box or caked on the walls of an incinerator._

 _Just please, no supernatural shit._

…

 _As you can imagine, I didn't get my wish._

xXx

Darkness. Sweet blessed darkness receded as a groggy mind regained its cognitive capabilities. Sleep fuzzed eyes stared blearily at a bright and too damn cheery eggshell blue of a nearly cloudless sky; the puffy tail of a jet's vapor trail bisecting the otherwise unmarred dome. A moment of dazed confusion passed through the young woman's mind, not certain as to why she was here gawking at a sky that clearly defied the cloudy and rainy forecast predicted for the next week by news anchors. _How the hell did I get here?_ she wondered, as cloud gazing wasn't a habit she normally took part in, being a part-time gym trainer and nearly full-time shut in. Nature and her were not by any means good bedfellows, there was a _reason_ she lived in the city.

Groaning when the light became too much, she slapped the palms of her hands over her burning eye sockets. "Go away Sol." Came the grumpy remark, the woman sitting up with some effort to point her face down and away from the glaring sun.

Her body felt strangely stiff, like she'd overworked herself doing manual labor or pushed too hard at the gym. Hell, even the air itself clung to her heavily, weighing her down and sticking to her clothes. But it wasn't a cloying heat or humidity like when a thunderstorm was brewing in the middle of July; it was more hard to describe. A sense of definitiveness. Permanence. Foreboding.

Putting aside these strange thoughts, the young woman continued rubbing away the sleep from her eyes, a frown wrinkling her brow when something seemed off. Removing her fists from her eye sockets, her eyelids widened as they stared at her fingers. _When did my fingers get so pudgy-_

That train of thought was cut off abruptly when her vision readjusted to focus on the blurry colorful blocks, broccoli, and little ants running between them in perfectly synchronized rows underneath her; only... it wasn't. "Uh," she wheezed intelligently, her pupils constricting into pinpricks as the wind suddenly rushed around her ears. Empty air greeted her cheerfully, the tiny mishmash of blocks, vegetables, and ants now fully registering to her sleep stupid brain as buildings, trees, and cars respectively. A piercing shriek filled the sky as she fell at terminal velocity, the structures and streets becoming more defined as the humble Earth sped to meet her.

"Oh my GOOOOD!" she wailed, arms pinwheeling around her wildly in a futile effort to slow her decent, _This isn't happening! This can't be happening!_ The impromptu skydiver implored, her terrified gaze laser focused on the rapidly encroaching pavement, _Impossible! IMPOSSIBLE! It's just a dream! Just a dream! Please be a dream! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please!_ Her pleading mantra repeated fruitlessly as the asphalt made its swift approach.

With one last desperate effort to survive, the young woman threw up her arms to shield her face and shut her eyes in preparation for impact.

...

The sound of a car crunching across pavement sounded nearby.

A wide terrified eye popped open to dart around, taking in the calm atmosphere as pedestrians walked heedlessly along the sidewalk, seemingly unaffected by what could have been a very messy incident. Cars revved on by, brakes squeaking as the drivers reached a stop sign before moving on again. A herd of brats stampeded by giggling amongst themselves as they weaved among the more sedate paced adults. It was with these observations that led the young woman to believe with a modicum of confusion and a truckload of joy that she had indeed _not_ become road pizza.

Opening her other eye and looking down, she saw to her horror that she was still floating, albeit a few centimeters off the ground. Then, as if gravity suddenly remembered that it had jurisdiction over her, she fell the last couple of inches with a barely jarring thud; smashing her face elegantly into the blacktop.

Sprawled out, the woman lay there in mute shock, watching in detached amazement as a _real_ line of ants scuttled unmolested in front of her face. Her mind whirled, unable to fully grasp what had just transpired. Numbly, she noticed a bicyclist leisurely making for a collision course for her prone body, _Surely, he'll notice me laying here. s_ he thought confidently, not having the will to get up and move out of the way. A small part of her in the back of her mind wondered why the fuck the noobs on the sidewalk weren't taking any notice of the person planking in the middle of the bike lane.

The bicyclist continued on unheeded however, and noticing it was too late to get out of the way the woman could only watch as the tires rolled... right... through...

Gaping, she scrambled up and away from the street, falling over the dangling fabric around her feet as she rushed to the sidewalk, "HOLY SHIT!" she screamed high and loud, her breaths coming in hurried uneven gasps; her brain totally boggled by what she had just witnessed. Quickly, the woman patted her abdomen where she saw the bike wheel pass through her body, taking note with increasing alarm that she was much shorter than many of the passersby. In fact, she would almost say that she was the same size as–

A five year old giggled as they held their mother's hand, eagerly goading the adult along in excitement for the park. The happy pair passed unknowingly through the shell-shocked being that they clearly could not see; the brat easily encompassing the ghost in her entirety, their sizes matching perfectly.

The grown woman turned child specter woodenly turned to watch their retreating backs, abject terror marring her rounded face. Suddenly feeling very cold, the woman or – more appropriately – girl shook her head and sprinted after the mother and child. Numerous times she tripped over the long tresses of fabric hanging from her bandaged legs and feet, eliciting frustrated sounds from the girl when it hindered her movements. Her white robe, which was much too big for her now shrunken frame, billowed around as she ran; the wide sleeves snapping like a flag in a breeze.

"Hey!" she called ahead, fumbling to bundle up the red scarf trailing from her hip, the only piece of colored cloth on her person. "Hey, lady can you hear me?" Again she shouted, giving a mental cringe at how high-pitched her child voice sounded. Still, there was no reaction from the pair and the invisible girl was feeling entitled to her denial. "Damn it woman, listen to me!" Came the inevitable bark as her temper go the best of her. She rushed forward in an attempt to grab the oblivious woman's long black hair and _make_ her pay the fuck attention, when instead her feet tangled around the scarf.

Once more, her face was introduced to the pavement.

xXx

After her hugely embarrassing freak out, which she was in part glad no one could see, the newly discovered spirit decided that being dead wasn't really all it was cracked up to be.

Sure she didn't feel hunger or thirst or even need to use the toilet, but she'd trade all of these perks in a heartbeat if it meant that people could see her. She'd spent hours flailing around in front of anyone she could find; Children. The elderly. Alleyway punks. Cats. A crazed hobo having a deep philosophical conversation with a waste disposal unit about how sour cream was a conspiracy brought on by alien space bats.

Even the other dearly departed couldn't see her mad gesticulations, which brought on a brand new wave of melancholy and made her wonder just what sort of situation she'd fallen into. From what she could see all the other ghosts she encountered had a chain hanging from their chest. After giving thorough inspection to her own sternum, she was forced to conclude that she indeed did not. What that meant? She couldn't even begin to imagine, but it did bring to mind of a certain hack and slash action manga with grossly overpowered characters and convoluted as hell plot. A story that had many people wondering if the writer was just flying by the seat of his pants and hadn't a clue on how to end his crazy ride. Despite this, she had still found some semblance of enjoyment from reading the most recent chapters.

Not to say that our sullen heroine would physically want anything to do with Tite Kubo's twisted afterlife party, but the very idea that the artist was on the nose for how spirits resided on the mortal plane was utterly terrifying in its own right. She just hoped that he was only right about the _recently_ departed, the specter didn't even want to imagine if he was right about _other_ things.

Hollows were on a whole other realm of NOPE that she _definitely_ did not want deal with.

Which brought to the front of her very tumultuous mind, the most important questions of all: _Why am I dead? How did it happen? And who's going to feed my cat?_

Now that last one may not seem as terribly important as the first two questions. In fact it's not even relevant to the current situation. But when you view your pets as replacements for children and are estranged from any family you have ever known, it does become a concern. Especially when you imagine that the place of your demise _may_ have been in the very same building that your now alone pet is residing; probably chewing on a fresh corpse. An animal, after all does not distinguish when survival is involved.

In any case, the mystery as to how or why she was dead proved to be a tricky one. For starters, the girl didn't even remember what she was doing before kicking the bucket. She had been perfectly healthy the last time she checked in with her doctor, which had not been too long ago. And as far as she knew, she didn't have any enemies that would want her dead and buried, which in itself would be a trial considering how she limited her conversations only to coworkers and clients. So unless she somehow pissed off some secret-society-Illuminati-bullshit-fanclub for simply breathing their air, she had to conclude that she probably died in her sleep due to some unexpected event, like a blood clot or aneurysm.

She always expected that she would kick the bucket in some lame way, but for it to actually occur was a bit disheartening. At least allow her to have died in an explosion or something equally as quick and dramatic.

One thing she was certain of however, was that she was nowhere near her hometown. Hell, from the looks of the signs it appeared she wasn't even in the same country. The characters of the local language appeared to be Japanese or something similar. _But if that is the case, s_ he mused, tapping her lip thoughtfully with her forefinger, grey eyes rolling around to pin an annoyed scowl at a cooing pair of ghosts behind her, _Then why the hell can I understand these loons?_

"Oh Juni-chan my love, you are looking so beautiful~ But then you always look gorgeous my lovely lovemuffin~" The male prematurely balding ghost gushed redundantly to his counterpart, a coy and prettily blushing twig of a woman. They were twined around each other intimately and floating a meter off the ground, languidly gliding down the sidewalk.

"Mah Tobi-kun, you're embarrassing me~" Stated the recently dubbed 'Juni-chan,' her wide smile belying any sort of mortification, if any, that the woman felt. "What if people see us like this, honey bear~?"

"No one can see us pookie~" Came the almost husky reply before the most disgusting slobbering noise echoed down the street as the two ghosts appeared to be fighting over each other's ectoplasmic uvula.

Making gross gagging sounds at the the display, the child specter turned in the opposite direction of the ghostly couple and jogged away, fervently hoping that she wouldn't run into them again. Back on her previous train of thought, being sure to scrub her brain of that sickening display, the specter mulled over the language problem or seeming lack thereof. _Perhaps when you're dead, all language barriers are taken down,_ she wondered, tightening her scarf around her waist so it didn't trail on the ground. _Only verbal barriers though... because I still can't read what all of these signs say..._ she added bitterly, glaring up at one of the street signs as if it had personally offended her.

A shock of brilliant orange hair in the spirit's peripheral vision made her quirk a brow. From what she's seen of this small town's populace and knowing the nationality of the indigenous humans, dark browns and blacks were the norm for hair color. Bright and shocking hair colors were for more the punk or scene-kid factions that were all about rebelling for whatever contrived reason. Out of morbid curiosity and boredom, she turned to glance in the direction of the garish hair color, in part to see what it was attached to and in another to maybe scoff and make fun of their poor color choice.

What met her eyes was not what she was expecting and she jolted into a double take faster than a gunshot.

Ashen eyes widened in surprise and disbelief as she slowly twisted her body to stare across the street. Looking no more than six years old, a tanned child with sun-kissed hair grinned widely at a beautiful woman with wavy brunette locks. Their hands were clasped gently and appeared to be striding in the same direction as other similarly paired up children.

"...It can't be," she murmured, grey eyes staring with disbelief at that oh-so-familiar head of orange hair. Snapping out of her reverie once they rounded the corner, the girl sped after them, heedless of pedestrians and traffic; her body easily passing through objects and people with barely a shiver.

Bandaged feet skid to a stop behind a light post, and the ghost peeked out from around the pole to watch the woman and child interact before a school gate. Pink lips upturned in a sweet smile, the woman ran long thin fingers gently through the boy's bright locks. "Okay Ichi-chan, are you ready?" The motherly woman asked, tenderly rubbing a manicured thumb over the child's smaller hand as he clutched her fingers tightly. "Don't be scared dear, I'm sure you'll love it."

Looking up at his mother, the boy's soulful brown eyes shimmered with nervousness. "But Kaa-chan, I don' know no one..." he argued, skittishly drawing closer to the woman when a larger boy ran too close. His eyes darted about uncertainly to pick out unfamiliar faces before imploringly returning his attention to his mother. "And... And what if… what if they don' like me?"

If it was possible, the girl spirit felt her heart flutter in sympathy at the admittance. Whoever could bring themselves to hate this ball of sunshine would surely have to be a monster.

Eye softening, the mother squeezed his tiny fist reassuringly. "Ichigo..." The woman murmured calmly, earning an involuntary startled jerk from the ghost, "...there will be children you know here. Tatsuki-chan is in the same grade so you should be seeing her around," she smiled sweetly at his hopeful expression, leaning down so she was eye level with her son and still petting the boy's hair to soothe him. "And how could anyone not like a sweet boy like you, hm?" Came the almost teasing query, earning silent approval from the apparition lurking a meter behind them. Straightening back up, the woman tugged him along slowly toward the school entrance, encouraging him all the way. "Don't worry dear, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun and meet all kinds of people—making new friends along the way. Think of it like an adventure~"

By the grimace he showed at that final comment, the specter could see that the boy wasn't terribly reassured and adventure was not exactly something he was seeking at this moment. Despite the feeling of warmth in her chest at seeing this bright and happy boy interacting with his mother, the spirit couldn't help but feel cold at the information she had just been given. Ichigo. As in _Kurosaki_ Ichigo... Was standing right in front of her. The receptionist at the office counter confirmed the surname when Masaki, the boy's mother, checked in.

It was at that moment the girl knew she was done for.

Kurosaki Ichigo was real. Which meant that the spirits with chains coming out of their chests were indeed Pluses. And that meant Hollows were real too. Which meant Shinigami, Quincies, Arrancar, Gotei Thirteen. Aizen. All of them were real.

Either this was some sort of fucked up dream or the ghost had really somehow found herself in the _Bleach_ universe.

Numbly mulling over her inevitable doom, the specter padded silently after the Kurosaki's, barely registering where they were going until a clamor broke her out of depressed musings. An auditorium filled with conversing parents and the raucous voices of children was laid out before her, chairs in neat rows sat facing a stage with a podium. Blinking at the sudden onslaught of sound and varied faces, the female ghost felt hapless among the crowd, already having lost sight of the boy and his mother.

Intent on keeping out of everyone's way, the specter kept to the back of the room where she had full view of everything.

The ceremony didn't take long to start, the parents taking their seats in a semi-orderly fashion and the older students seated in their respective area. With a round of applause spectators welcomed the new first years as they entered the auditorium in a line, Ichigo could be instantly spotted out of the mass by his halo of bright hair, his movements forced and nervous. His brightly glowing cheeks eliciting a sympathetic smile from the ghost as she observed the events taking place. After the new students took their seats at the front of the room, the principal of the school stood to introduce himself and droned out the speech he had prepared.

Feeling her eyes begin to droop as the principal continued his address in a bored drawl, the specter instead decided to muse over her predicament. First of all problems was that she was very much dead, and in such an odd state of death too. No one could see her, which only compounded upon her problems. Sure she could probably get away with a few rude gestures, but that got boring after a while with no one else to appreciate it.

Second, how in all the hells was she going to survive this? Yeah sure she couldn't interact with the living or dead right _now,_ but there was always a possibility that it could change in the future. This series threw enough bullshit plot-device curve balls to fill an entire baseball diamond, and then some. Not to mention that several of the main characters themselves had a ridiculous, incalculable intelligence that made her skin crawl. Kurotsuchi. Urahara. Aizen... Sure Urahara was the de-facto Chaotic Good aligned madman super-genius that aided all of the characters in some form or another, but he was still a madman none-the-less. Him getting a hold of her in any way in the name of science did not elicit feel-good feelings of any kind. And if Urahara freaked her out with just his sheer potential, than the other two lunatics utterly terrified her.

Loud applause startled her out of her melancholic thoughts and she saw the younger kids splitting off into groups, ushered along by a couple of teachers. Looks like the ceremony was over. She saw Ichigo give his mother a forlorn wave as he and his classmates left the auditorium, and his mother gave him a pair of thumbs up in return, with a cheesy grin to match. The specter smiled at that, wondering just how much Isshin influenced her in the years they'd been together.

As the kids passed her by, she saw Ichigo turn and glance in her direction. Time seemed to slow and the world's vibrant colors began to grey out around them, the noise fading in the background. The specter felt her eyes widen as Ichigo made eye contact, the hairs on the nape of her neck standing on end as they stared at each other. A couple heartbeats passed, the sound like a drum in her ears. She watched in rapt fascination as his pupils contracted into pinpricks, the warm color of his irises draining out. Could he see her?

 _What is happening?_

Ichigo averted his eyes and the moment ended, the specter let out breath that she didn't know she'd been holding as the boy scrubbed at his eyes, a bewildered expression twisting his pudgy face. She ducked into the wall before he could glance back, her body easily passing through the drywall and support beams. A repeat of what just transpired was not something she wanted on her wishlist. _Damn it!_ The specter mentally cursed, biting on her lower lip in nervousness, _Just what the hell is going on? How could Ichigo see me when no one else could?_ Pressing a hand to her chest, she felt her heart thump against her sternum. It was the same feeling she'd received when first awakening in this world.

A sense of foreboding.

A bad omen.

She needed to get out of here...

Her ghostly feet pounded against the tile, fleeing the elementary school as fast as she could, passing through walls and people alike without a care. This was not what she wanted, she needed to get as far away from 'The Plot' as possible. Who knows what she would screw up if she interfered or got involved in any manner. It was best to stay as far as fuck away as–

"Hey! You girl! Hey! Wait for me!" A young child-like voice called some distance behind her, making a shiver quake up her spine. Snapping her head back so fast that it make a cracking noise, the specter gaped as the object of her fear chased after her. His soft brown eyes filled with genuine concern as he gave chase.

 _How the hell did he escape from his teachers?!_ she asked herself in a panic, picking up her speed instead of slowing down like he'd asked, eliciting a protest from the well-meaning boy. The bad feeling she'd sensed earlier grew into full on dread as he pursued her off the school grounds. _I mean, I knew that when he got older he was an accomplished escape artist, if only in the name of comedy relief... but for that behavior to start so early is a BIT concerning!_

Glancing behind her to see if he was still following, the specter gave out a shriek when she saw that he was gaining on her. _Damn, this kid can run!_ she marveled, feeling herself begin to trip over her bandages in her haste. With an agitated yelp she called back, "Stop following me!" in hopes that he would get the hint and cease chasing her. His next words, however nearly made her actually faceplant in embarrassment.

"It's okay to be e'scared of school!" Ichigo announced honestly, like he was divulging some great secret, only with the volume control tuned to eleven as little kids were prone to do.

The wayward spirit gaped, completely caught left field, _Does… does this kid think I'm a freaking grade-schooler?!_ she stared, totally boggled by the very thought until remembering that she was in the body of a child around his age. Smacking herself in the face in exasperation, she scowled and turned her eyes forward, "Right, of course he does…"

He was just a child after all.

"My Kaa-chan says it's 'cary sometimes, but if you're wif a friend then it's not 'cary no more!" he rattled off wisely, nearly on her heels and utterly unfazed by her attitude. It truly was endearing how determined he was to make her feel better, when just an hour ago he was nearly shitting his own pants. This kid really had a good heart. Ichigo then smiled toothily, a big beaming grin that would have made any toothpaste commercial proud, "You wanna be my friend?"

"No!" she immediately barked, wincing when he gave her a look like she'd just struck him. Feeling horrible, she tried recanting, "Look kid, it's not personal… I'm not–"

She never got to finish her sentence, as the ghost found herself once again kissing asphalt. _Damn these fucking bandages!_ she cursed vehemently, groaning out loud as she made her way to sit up. A voice somewhere behind her was yelling something, but it was unintelligible to her pain fogged mind.

 _Wait… pain?_

Too busy mulling over old and rather missed sensations, the specter missed the imminent vehicle. A rough shove from behind caught her full attention however, pushing with enough force to send her tumbling head over heels in the air. One small voice desperately yelling for her to get out of the way resounded in her ears.

There was a screech of tires.

First thing she noticed once the world stopped flipping its shit, was that she was flying again; something that she hadn't quite bothered to try since her first mishap with the pavement. Second, was that there was a shit ton of screaming going on, like a metric ass load of it, and it wasn't stopping. _Damn, that woman has got some lungs on her…_ she mused, still a bit baffled as to what just happened and straight up staring as the stranger belted her lungs out, _But no, seriously why the fuck is she screaming?_ Glancing about, she saw a crowd gathering on the street, the amount of people creating a barricade to other vehicles along the thoroughfare.

A cold feeling overtook her then. And she hesitantly floated her way over the the inner circle of onlookers.

What she saw made her choke back a shout of her own.

Kurosaki Ichigo... was dead.

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 **A/N:** Picking out little kid dialogue for young Ichigo was a lot of fun and incredibly endearing. Little kids can be cute when they aren't being little hellions. :D

Also don't worry, the name of our surly heroine will be announced in the next chapter, so stay tuned!


	2. And Another One Bites the Dust

**A/N:** I did the thing! :D Enjoy another fun chapter of ghostly shenanigans!

 **TUMBLR:** fanfiction-by-abalisk

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Chapter 2: And Another One Bites the Dust

Staring down with wide eyes at the gathering crowd on the street below, the ghost couldn't help but gape at the events that took place mere moments ago.

Kurosaki Ichigo... was dead.

Or to be completely accurate, damn near death; the boy's unconscious crumpled form lay in a heap on the side of the road, the final place where his body tumbled after leaping in front of a moving vehicle. Jumping, one must add and emphasis, in order to shove a _dead_ person of all things out of the way of an inbound car. To be completely fair though, the kid could hardly identify the difference between the living and the relatively normal-looking dead. Still, throwing oneself in front of moving vehicles was not a good way to keep up the living person quota. Chances are the person you are going to save might not actually get brutally splattered across the pavement, you might just be ruining things by interfering.

Note the start of Yu Yu Hakusho if an example is needed. Now granted, nobody present in this situation is an ostracized delinquent and one of the people is already dead, but the point still stands:

Human in Road + Moving Car = Bad Touch

Strangely, many people commonly expect that being struck by a two ton vehicle going twenty miles an hour would only leave a person to walk away with a minor injury at best or at the very worst a broken limb. The reality is a lot more jarring when you realize that it's the equivalent of falling off of the roof of a one story building and that well, shit gets broken at that height.

Broken legs or arms are the least of your concerns when you have to contend with the potential life threatening injuries such as a broken spine, punctured lung, brain contusion, cracked skull... The list goes on.

Now the specter could not tell for certain what sort of wounds the boy sustained, but she could take a gander by the steadily growing pool of blood around his skull.

"No... No. No, no, no, no!" The ghost wailed, pulling at her hair in frustration as the consequences of what had just occurred struck home. Kurosaki Ichigo. The protagonist. The hero of the story. Was literally bleeding out on the pavement from something as mundane as getting hit by a car, and it was all her fault! Events that were supposed to take place in the next ten years will never occur. Soul Society might as well just hand over the Soul Key to Aizen or Yhwach and get it over with, because if Ichigo dies they have no bloody contingency plans!

Gliding down, the specter landed carefully next to the boy's prone body, ignoring the subtle shiver a concerned onlooker gave when she passed straight through them.

Not really knowing what to do with her hands, the specter twisted her fingers around each other, eliciting bone crunching pops and groans as she wrung her fingers hard. _Oh man, this is all my fault!_ she whimpered, unwinding one of her hands for a moment to hesitantly lay it on the boy's shoulder, giving it a hard shove. As expected, her spectral limb just phased right through him and she jerked back quickly, concerned that her own spiritual essence would interfere with his life force.

...Or whatever. She didn't know how all this shit worked.

The crowd around her was muttering nervously, wisely keeping back and not touching the boy just in case they made his injuries worse. She heard one man rattling off the street name and address to a curt voice on his cell phone and the specter hoped to God that it was the hospital. No siren sounded yet.

She didn't like how glassy his eyes looked.

A pale shimmer began to form in the boy's chest and she completely flipped out when it revealed itself to be Ichigo's ghostly double. "Oh shit! His soul's coming out!" she shrieked, grasping at the hem of her robe and full-on gnawing on her bottom lip, "What do I do?! What do I do?!" Panicking further when Ichigo's spirit opened his eyes, the girl slapped her hands over his face and attempted to shove him back in, screaming all the while, "Get back in your body damn it! You aren't supposed to be dead you idiot!"

"Ow!" Ichigo cried, protesting the unexpectedly rough treatment, "Stop it! That hurts-why are you being mean?!"

"Because you jumped in front of a car to save a dead girl!" she snapped, her arms quaking as she used what little strength she had to try and push his soul back. "Who does that?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" he whined back, trying to fend off her assault with little success, his twig-like arms batting against her own, "Ouch! Stop pushing me!"

The girl gasped when she saw a chain beginning to snake out of the chest of the physical body, warning bells going off in her mind at its meaning. That was the Chain of Fate, the bond that connected a soul to the body. Was Ichigo about to die? The boy's soul was exiting the body no matter how much she fought with the it, so it really could only mean one thing.

Rattling, the links in his Chain of Fate began to crack in the center of the length, the rings starting to chip. Panicking, the girl grabbed the chain on either side of the break and attempted to relieve the tension between the two parts. Which didn't end up really doing anything, the links continued to crumble despite her efforts, tension having nothing to do with it. "No... No! No! No, no. Damn it! No!" she chanted, looking around frantically in hopes of finding something, anything to fix this. _Shit! I don't know anything about healing or whatever bullshit, I just got here!_ she groused, roughly shoving Ichigo's soul back down with her foot and practically sitting on him.

He was crying and calling her names. She didn't have the mind to care right now, too focused on keeping him from death's door. The kid could hate her all he wanted later, just so long as he lived.

This world needed him to live.

 _Okay, now think._ The specter goaded herself, brow furrowing in concentration as she closed her eyes, still wrestling down the kid's spirit. _What can you do? As far as I know… I can fly or float... Whatever. Not important!_ she gritted her teeth as Ichigo's arm smacked hard into her side, the blow hurting more than she thought it would. _Right. Kid's got spirit energy out the ass when he grows up, makes sense that his spiritual body would have some kick to it even-_

She opened her eyes in shock and stared down at the child, something in her brain clicking in place, "Of course… why didn't I think of that earlier?" The specter chided herself, voice dour despite the growing seed of hope in her chest. Reaching down to her scarf, she yanked it loose from its place around her waist and began tearing the fabric. It was surprisingly easy to turn into strips of cloth despite the thickness of the material.

However, each tear made her groan in pain, her face pinching as she felt a piece of herself rip. She had known the moment she'd seen it that the scarf had to be important, it was so out of place from everything else she was wearing. The white bandages. The white kimono. It was the only color that stood out from everything else on her. It had to represent something. _Perhaps this is my version of the Chain of Fate?_ she mused wryly, grinning as she began to loop the cloth through Ichigo's fraying chain, weaving and braiding through each ring.

"W-what are you doing?" Ichigo asked plaintively, having finally given up on fighting her, his eyes still leaking frustrated tears. He was scared and confused, understandable given his situation, but the ghost couldn't worry about that now.

"Shut up, I'm concentrating." The specter barked, feeling woozy from making so many rips in her scarf. _It needs a name…_ she hummed thoughtfully, her vision beginning to waver with each new twist and knot she made, the beginnings of a fishtail braid making itself known. _Soul Kerchief? No, too simple... Sounds stupid. Soul Scarf? Spirit Shawl? No. Alliteration is not doing you any favors…_ Her hands worked quickly and expertly, accommodating for the chain as she weaved the fabric through each hole. Days spent as a girl scout came back to her in a haze and she recalled how the other girls learned how to braid their hair after making their chain braided bracelets. Who knew having such a skill would actually come in handy someday?

 _God, I hope this works…_

It was so simple. Stupidly simple. Too simple to actually work, but she had to do something. She didn't know if tearing up her own soul chain was going to screw her in the end or not. If she was now on a one way trip to Hollow-ville because she foolishly believed that wrapping a spiritual entity around another would miraculously stop a chain's decomposition process. It was the only thing she could think of. Since spiritual healing derived someone inserting their spiritual essence into another being, this had to work similarly right?

Finished with her weaving, the specter looked over her handiwork with tired eyes, her vision now fading in and out. This had to be enough.

"What now?" The boy asked, his voice rough from sobbing and his soft brown eyes looking into her own with a hint of fear. "Are you okay? You look sick…"

She didn't answer him, too engrossed in listening to a heartbeat thrumming in her ears. A heart that could not have been her own, as her's had stopped beating long before she came here. It was muted and far away, picking up in tempo. The specter glanced down at the braid her eyes taking in the chipped links in between the cloth. A smile wormed its way onto her face and she felt herself being pulled forward.

The chain had stopped breaking.

It worked.

Something yanked hard on her chest and she felt her eyelids widen into shock as it stretched taut, the specter gasped as Ichigo's body began to emit a pale blue glow. The boy's spirit yelled in surprise, his chain pulling him back into his body, the links clacking and rattling as they receded back into his physical form.

The specter only had a moment to wonder what would happen to her as she was pulled along with it, before they both disappeared.

Sirens sounded in the distance.

xXx

 _How was it that the saying went? "Dance is the hidden language of the soul?"_

 _Wait. No, that's completely wrong. Nobody in this situation is a dancer and it's not like an interpretive jig is going to help explain what the hell is going on. Though it honestly would be hilarious to see someone try._

 _Perhaps this would be better:_

" _A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body." Maka Albarn. Soul Eater. Wrong anime, but you get the idea right?_

 _...No?_

 _Fuck it then._

xXx

The first thing she noticed when she returned to the wonderful realm of consciousness was an extremely irritating beeping noise to her left. It just kept going and going and going, seemingly without end. And she had half a mind to tell the jackass who left his watch alarm on to shove the fucking thing up his ass. Who even uses those stupid things anymore? Really?

Next was a strange something obstructing her nostrils and it really hurt, the skin around the thing was dry and crusty, it was painful to shift her head a little as it pulled somewhere deep up her nose, _And… in my throat?_ she wondered, finally opening her eyes only to see that the room was nearly pitch black, the only light available was obscured by a row of ambiguously colored curtains to her right. Sniffing experimentally, she nearly gagged as the tubing shifted, the feeling of thick taping keeping the thing fixed to her face. However, the smells that did come through told her that she was in some sort of medical facility. It was unmistakable, the damnable scent of plastic, antiseptic, and starchy linens filled her senses and she sighed.

A hospital.

Laughter nearly escaped her then, but the nasal tube pulled making her wince and gag a bit. She'd been right all along, somehow she must have fallen into a coma and had a really fucked up dream.

Like beyond fucked up.

Attempting to sit upright, she sucked in a breath when pain throbbed in her skull, making her eyes scrunch shut. _Ah hell, do I have a hangover?_ she griped, reaching her hand up to pinch between her brows. _Eyes feel like shit? Check._ Clearing her throat, she smacked her mouth and attempted to swallow, grimacing when it didn't go as planned, _Throat dry like a desert and mouth tastes like someone took a fat dump in it? Double Check._ Groaning, she carefully lay back down, the pounding in her head abating slightly in the relaxed position. _Feels like some leprechaun asshole is hitting my head with a ten pound hammer? Score._

So, no getting out of bed for her then. She could work with that…

For a few moments she listened to the steady signal of the heart monitor, its pulsing tone filling the void of sound within the room. How anyone could actually sleep through these stupid things she hadn't the slightest idea. It was amazing how well the sound burrowed into her brain and she couldn't help her fingers as they started to tap to the rhythm.

 _This is stupid._ she snorted and swiveled her eyes away from the ceiling, the darkness of the room now appearing less so now that her eyes had time to adjust. For some inexplicable reason, she had the urge to see her reflection and she squirmed a bit in place as she looked at all the bedstands and reached into drawers. It had nothing to do with any level of narcissism, more like morbid curiosity. She wanted to know how bad of a place she had wound up in and was immensely concerned that if she looked like death, then it wasn't too far out of her future. _One near death experience is enough to last me a lifetime…_ she fumed, nearly crowing in triumph when a small hand mirror was found one of the drawers.

 _After this it's gonna be Hermit-ville for me. No more people. No more city. No more pollution..._ she mused, because clearly these things had to have been at fault for making her unwell to begin with. And if she was going to die anyway, may as well take it to the next level. _I'm gonna suck it up and find a mountain and build a cabin. Live off the land like a real mountain man… woman. Then when I inevitably die up there, nobody has to deal with my corpse and I'll be worm food, all nice and natural._ Sighing contently with her resolution, she glanced down at the mirror in her hands.

Ichigo stared back at her with a faint smile curling his lips.

She started screaming.

Heart monitor going haywire in her panic, the alarm blared loud and clear for all the world to hear and all she could do was shriek like someone was brutally murdering her. She was in Ichigo's body! His _body_! This was terribly wrong on so many levels, just what had she done wrong to deserve this?

Her thoughts cycled into a maelstrom of scenarios, trying to calculate and wonder just what she could have done differently. She vaguely heard the pounding steps of several feet and the screams did not abate, even when the lights abruptly flashed on and she was surrounded by medical personnel. Ignoring the nurses trying to calm her down, the girl flailed in her borrowed body, striking out at anyone who came too close and snarling when several people tried to hold her down. At some point she had loosened and ripped out the tubes in Ichigo's nose, the sensation actually making her vomit on some unfortunate nurse as the nasogastric tubing elicited an unexpected gag reflex upon its removal.

"It's not a dream! It's not a dream!" she howled through the bile, the hoarse child-like voice sounding strange in her ears, fueling her distress further. A pinprick of pain swelled in her right buttocks and she briefly glimpsed a male nurse backing off with an empty needle in hand. Someone mentioned contacting parents and she looked up to see a familiar head of white hair among the faceless mass of strangers.

Ishida Ryuuken stood in the doorway, his eyes wide with shock and concern, a nearby nurse reading off something on a clipboard into his ear. But he seemed to be paying them no mind. His entire attention was focused on her. Him. Them!

The specter ceased her struggling, her screams dying out and panted breathlessly as she felt the effect of whatever drug they just gave this body begin to take hold. She started to chuckle, her mad frenzy evolving into mirth at how ridiculous the entire situation was.

Here she was in a body that was not her own and she had just freaked out one of the most unflappable characters in the series, _An admirable first impression you just gave for Ichigo, you piece of shit,_ she chided herself. For some reason this elicited further amusement and her laughter grew into hysterical chortles, earning quite a few uneasy looks from the people in the room. Even to herself, the laughter was horrid to listen to and she could only imagine what Ichigo looked like right now. His body shook as she tried to contain her delirium, eyes starting to droop as the drugs took effect.

Did she royally screw up? Where was Ichigo's consciousness? Was she now bound to him? Did she override his mind somehow when she wrapped the scarf around his chain?

Questions assailed her fading mind and she felt the hands shift as her giggling died down, several arms lifting her away from the filthy sheets and placing her on a stretcher. She tasted iron and bile and several other unsavory fluids, grimacing at the foreign texture. Voices echoed around the room and she could no longer focus on their conversation, only the sound of the heart monitor echoed in her ears. The trilling alarm having not been silenced after she removed the sensors.

Finally, darkness claimed her sight, all color and sound vanishing into a yawning void.

xXx

"Hey."

Ichigo shifted, groaning and screwing up his face in irritation, he didn't want to get up yet. He had been having such a good dream a few moments ago and he wanted to see how it ended. The princess was just about to get rescued after the man in the red hat and overalls just defeated the turtle monster-

Someone nudged him incessantly, jamming what felt like a toe right into his lower ribs. It kind of hurt. "Wake up, brat. You aren't fooling anybody, I know you're awake." Came the familiar voice, the tone dour and slightly annoyed, "Perks of sharing a body I suppose… but seriously get up I need to talk to you."

Reluctantly, Ichigo opened his eyes and sat up with a whine, grimacing and squinting at the brightness of their location. It appeared to be midday, clear and sunny, and there was a pleasant breeze teasing his hair. Several puffy clouds moving along the blue expanse of the sky, chugging along upward as they followed the wind. It was strangely quiet, not a bird in sight-

Ichigo's eyes widened and he swung his head to look back at the clouds, gaping as he observed their impossible direction. Clouds didn't act like that. Peering down, he let out a gasp as he saw himself seated on a window, his reflection blinking back at him dumbly. He was sitting on the side of a building, how was this happening? Ichigo felt his eye begin to roll and a strange vertigo overcame him, making a sick feeling settle into his stomach. He was up so high!

Someone's hand appeared in front of his face and snapped their fingers a few times, grabbing his attention. With a startled glance, Ichigo turned to see the girl he had seen at school crouched on the balls of her feet next to him, an exasperated expression twisting her features. She was still wearing the white kimono and the bandages on her legs, but the scarf she had before was no longer there, a red braided belt and chain taking its place. Her hair was grey just like her eyes, but a pretty grey like ashes after a fire or like the jar of stuff that his Kaa-chan said came from a volcano. It flowed like water as the wind blew, shining with hints of silver and subtle shades of yellow. It was really pretty. Her grey eyes narrowed at him and Ichigo balked under her stare, he didn't understand why she was so mad.

"Stop doing that." she growled and when he just gave her a confused look in response, the girl rolled her eyes and explained, "Your emotions, keep them to yourself. I don't need you getting even more into my head than you already have been. Don't think I didn't notice you rummaging around in my memories of Mario 64." When Ichigo just continued to look baffled she flapped her hand with a resigned expression, "Nevermind, by the looks of it you don't even know what I'm talking about, probably even doing it unconsciously… explains why you're cool as a cucumber right now too."

At this, Ichigo perked up with a smile, "You think I'm cool?"

The girl scowled, "No stupid, it's an expression." she barked harshly, making Ichigo flinch at the annoyance in her tone, "It means you're calm and not about to have a panic attack like you were a few seconds ago. Which means you're probably stealing some of my emotions too… wouldn't be surprised." The girl muttered the last part and Ichigo felt a heat crawl onto his face.

"I don't steal things!" he argued hotly, his cheeks and ears flushing red in his anger, "And I'm not stupid, why are you such a meany!"

Her face screwing up in rage, the girl bared her teeth back at him, voice raising into a shout of her own, "Maybe because I'm stuck with a little shiii..." Trailing off, she pinched her brows and hissed out a breath, inhaling deeply in through her nose as she forced herself to calm down. "No, you know what? We aren't doing this right now. No arguing. Not until we put a damn cork into this emotional sieve we got going on here." she eyed him speculatively, observing as he visibly began to become more sedate, as her own emotions evened out. "Shit. Kids really can't take the volume of emotion from adults… Just a drop of irritation from me and you're ready to raze the countryside. Hell hath no fury and all that bullshit."

Ichigo wiped his nose on his sleeve, sniffing noisily as he blinked away some angry tears, "But you're not a… ad.. andl… adl… a grown-up." he gave up trying to pronounce the word, feeling a slight embarrassment at the fact. He wanted to prove that he wasn't stupid but the girl used hard words.

The girl gave him a knowing look and rubbed the back of her head, Ichigo feeling a rush of regret feeding into his system and he gulped back a lump in his throat. "Look, I'm sorry I called you stupid." she stated earnestly, a guilty expression on her face, "I didn't mean what I said, I was just… mad." Ichigo nodded, his face clearing of the pained and offended look that had taken hold of his features since their confrontation. The girl sighed in relief, leaning back onto her heels and sitting on her rear, crossing her legs. "And to answer your question, not everything is as it appears." she declared, pointing a thumb at herself, "I may look your age now, but I'm really in my twenties."

He gave her a dubious once over, clearly unconvinced of her statement, "You're old? Is that why your hair is this color?" Ichigo asked, gently grabbing several swaying strands of her hair, before leaning forward with a smile, his large doe eyes shimmering in curiosity and wonder. "It's really pretty… Uhm… Who are you?"

Blinking, the girl leaned away from his encroaching face, immediately lamenting the fact that he was a kid because of their tendency to have no border control whatsoever. Seriously, space bubble everyone. She'd forgotten how irritating it was when little kids got close to her face. "Look kid, first of all," At this she put her hand on his face and shoved him back several centimeters, "back the hell up. I don't need you getting all up in my space." Crossing her arms, she continued before he could protest, "And second of all, it's rude to ask someone their name before giving your own…"

Okay yeah, she already knew his name, but it couldn't hurt to keep up pretenses at this stage either. She didn't want to set up precedences of her being an all-knowing entity, because that could get dangerous later on. Best be laying low for the time being, if only to see what she effects with her presence.

The fact that they were conversing in Ichigo's inner world already sent a tingle down her spine. She only hoped that the Quincy fragment and White were not active yet.

"Wha-oh!" Ichigo exclaimed, a flush of red embarrassment crossing his face before he folded his legs beneath him and bowed sloppily, "My name is Kurosaki Ichigo. I'm six years old and my favorite color is red!" he gave her the largest, goofiest grin and the girl held back a snort at the look. The damn kid really was too cute.

"Very good, you may call me Noah." she returned, bowing at the waist with a theatrical flourish. It didn't seem important that the kid know her surname, since it wouldn't be of much use in this world. With her being bound to his soul, the chances of her getting out and finding a separate body of her own was low. Not that it was particularly high to begin with, but still the hope had been there.

"Noah?" Ichigo questioned, tilting his head after sitting back on his heels. The kid really was unflappable now that all the other shocks had been taken care of, it was nearly disturbing. Especially, when considering they were both sitting on the side of a building like one would on a park sidewalk any other day. "You mean, like the boat and the animals?"

Noah belatedly wondered just how much she could effect his emotions. If he was this calm now, what could she do in the future? "Yeah, sure thing kid. Like the boat." she grumbled, attributing his strange knowledge of other religious culture to the fact that his mother had possible Germanic origins, she wouldn't be surprised if he picked up on a few things. Though now that she thought of it, didn't Japan have some Christianity sprinkled in among some of the other religions? In any case, she really hoped the Noah's Ark reference wasn't going to become a reoccurring thing…

"Noah-chan?" When she gave an affirmative hum to indicate she was listening despite lounging with her eyes closed, Ichigo forged on, "Where are we? Did we go far away from home?"

 _Ah yes, the big elephant in the room. Or rather, the room itself is the elephant… Or wait… Fucking hell, nevermind... Whatever._

"I'm glad you asked that kid, because I've got no idea." she lied easily, abandoning her earlier train of thought like a sinking ship. Flipping around, she kicked off into the air and hovered, her arms behind her head in the universal lazing pose. "Last thing I remember was getting sucked into your body after fixing your chain… so I guess it's possible we're inside your mind or something." Noah bit back explaining that she had woken up with total control of _his_ body before coming here, she didn't think it would be too relevant and honestly didn't want to give the kid any ideas.

People would really think he's crazy if he suddenly had stark personality switches, Noah really didn't want anyone psychoanalyzing her host this early in the game. The less people knew of her the better, so she needed Ichigo to stay in control of his body ninety-nine percent of the time.

She didn't want a repeat of the Hospital Incident.

"So…" Ichigo started slowly, glancing around at all the horizontally aligned buildings, the bland grey streets to one side and the blue expanse of the sky on the other, "So you're inside me? But how?"

Noah gave Ichigo the longest suffering look she could, to the point of making him squirm uncomfortably beneath her gaze, "Okay first of all, don't ever say that without context," she deadpanned, flipping back around to lay on her stomach, propping up her chin up with her wrists, "People are naturally inclined to fill in the blanks with the absolute worst case scenario. Say instead, "you're inside my mind?" that immediately sounds much better and leaves little room for speculation."

Still looking a bit confused at her explanation, Ichigo nodded anyway. Noah sighed exasperatedly because she could tell that he didn't quite get it, but didn't want to delve into the details on how all older people were pervs.

 _Precious little cinnamon roll too good for this world, too pure._

"And second of all... probably." Noah continued, giving him a dour stare, "I'm just assuming because that's what I last remember seeing. I don't know for certain." Sitting up, Noah crossed her legs and held onto her bandaged feet, rocking back and forth in the air, "For all I know, we could have wound up in some alternate reality where people build sideways for some inexplicable reason. Though why that would happen I don't have the slightest clue..."

"And how?" At this she scratched the back of her head, "Maybe because I'm a ghost? I don't know about that one either, I'm only recently dead so…"

"You must be pretty old," Ichigo spoke up out of the blue, making Noah blink at the abrupt change of topic, "Cuz grown-ups I talk to don't talk like that and I only hear old people say bad words when they think nobody's listening."

Scowling, Noah gave Ichigo a skeptical look, finding it interesting that he wasn't at all freaked out at the notion that she was a ghost. Though it may have just not sunk in yet. "I don't think you're as observant as you think you are, because people say "bad words" all the time." she raised her fingers into air quotes, giving an amused quirk of her mouth at the action, "Besides, I'm not that old. Twenty-something is not considered to be old in the slightest bit, that's only a quarter of the human lifespan."

Ichigo blinked and winced when she raised her hand, thinking she was going to strike him like when they first met, only to relax when she ruffled his hair gently. It wasn't the same roughness as his father's and it didn't have the teasing quality that his mother's did, but it was somewhere in between. Like she was combing his hair and rubbing his scalp at the same time.

It was nice.

"So why do you talk like that then?" he asked, leaning into her touch. His eyes beginning to droop into sleep at the repeated motions.

Idly massaging his scalp, Noah hummed thoughtfully, observing as the boy's body visibly faded slightly, "Probably because I prefer talking to you like an equal. I always hated it when people talked down to their kids, it stunts their mental growth."

"What does that mean?" Ichigo murmured, swaying in place. He felt small hands steady him and gently ease him to the window, his head being pillowed by the girl's lap.

She looked down at him, a contemplative look on her face before saying blandly, "It means they grow up to be stupid. Now I know you likely have a million more questions for me, but that can wait for next time. I'll see what I can do here to fix the emotion thing but I won't make any promises, I'm not a miracle worker no matter what my resume says." Noah brushed a few stray strands of hair out of Ichigo's face and he stared up at her bleary eyed. Already she could see his feet starting to disappear. "You're tired here which means you will most likely wake up in the real world soon… don't worry your parents will probably be there to meet you."

"How do you know?" he asked, his voice rough from exhaustion. Her hands really did feel good and his eyes finally slid closed under her ministrations.

"I don't. Now get your cute patoot back to your body. I can't be the one to deal with that shit."

* * *

 **A/N:** And there you have it folks, INTRODUCING...

 _NOAH: 20 something years old (Currently in the form of a 6 year old child)_

 _Hair Color: Ash brown_

 _Eye Color: Grey_

 _Occupation: Ghost?_

 _Special Skill: ...Absolute Bullshit and Sass_


	3. One Foot in the Grave

**A/N:** I've been working on Like the Blade of a Knife and this story on and off, and am basically trying to update one story and then work on the other... so we'll see how that works out. Had fun writing this chapter and I hope it shows!

I have some art on my Tumblr for what Noah looks like, so swing by and check it out! All you have to do is search the username below and you'll find it. :)

 **TUMBLR:** fanfiction-by-abalisk

* * *

Chapter 3: One Foot in the Grave

Okay, so maybe allowing the kid to regain consciousness hadn't the best idea, especially considering that Noah was now left alone within the yawning cavernous vacuum they called an inner world. Seriously, this place was freaking huge! Getting lost could very well be within the realm of possibility, what with all the buildings looking exactly the same, the endless sky, and the disconcerting sensation that one was always falling.

Only a little solace could be found in the knowledge that she learned to fly.

"I already really hate this place…" Noah groused, her legs crossed and floating a scant few centimeters off the building as she explored the immediate area. To anyone else at a distance it would probably just look like she was scooting strangely smooth across the building wall or that maybe she was riding a roomba or something equally ridiculous. She puttered down the building's length toward the "ground" at a languid pace, investigating her boring surroundings with only a modicum of interest. It was strange being here and quite a bit lonely. How did the zanpakuto do it? How could they just stay in such a barren place completely alone and wait for the moment that their handler finally decided to pay a visit?

"Speaking of which, why the hell is this even here?" Noah thought aloud, giving a considering look to her surroundings. From what she understood, the inner world only manifested in a shinigami that had an Asauchi. But then again Ichigo was an anomaly that hit the genetic jackpot, so perhaps this had to do with the hollow he inherited from Masaki? How did he get a Zanpakuto anyway? Yeah sure, Rukia shot him up with some of her voodoo spirit bullshit first but what about after that? Wasn't Ichigo the only one without an "official" Zanpakuto? She vaguely remembered something about some weirdo in the Zero Division making all Asauchi or whatever but it apparently hadn't stuck as a particularly important topic.

Noah felt the beginnings of a headache bloom like a rather thorny flower in her temples and she rubbed them with a suffering groan. This was by no means going to be completely painless.

Sniffing loudly, she hovered over to the edge of the building and glanced down, noting that the vertical streets made a canyon of corridors between the structures. It went further than she could even see and a sensation of vertigo made her vision reel for a moment. Grimacing, she backed up and lay down on the window, allowing the negative response to pass. "I hate heights. This is by far the worst place I've ever been." Noah hissed, rolling to the side that held the street to try and reacquire her equilibrium.

She supposed that her newly acquired poor reaction to heights stemmed from her impromptu introduction to this world, since Noah was certain she'd never had this problem before her face kissed pavement. Now she hadn't performed any amazing feats, like walking on a tightrope between buildings, but had been confident that as a relatively normal human being she had an indifferent reaction to heights. And to add to the stupidity she could fly anyway, so the point really was moot.

Sighing, Noah rolled onto her stomach and pressed her face into the glass, fogging it with her breath. She really hoped that her distress wasn't causing any problems on Ichigo's end-

"Ah shit. I totally forgot about that…" Noah whined, lifting her head a little ways off the window only to thump it back down on the glass with a dull thud. The empathic link needed to be fixed, otherwise people would start thinking Ichigo was completely bipolar, and that certainly could not be something looked further into; not while she possessed his body.

Or was it inhabit?

Paying rent?

Whatever.

Point was, she needed to figure out how to put a cap on the free flowing emotions between them or at least suppress it somehow. Even now she could feel the love and affection Ichigo felt, a sense of complete security. Noah's mind eye brought forth the image of Ichigo's parents and she understood; but still it was a strange sensation, one that she wasn't particularly used to. Her relationship with her own parents had been tenuous at best when she had been a child and they were nearly strangers before she died.

Heart clenching in brief pain at the thought of what she could have had, Noah forced herself to tamp down the swell of envy rising within her. She was bigger than this. She would not be jealous of a child. Noah let out a breath and stood, reigning in her negative emotions and just allowed Ichigo's mental state to wash over her without resistance. Just allowing herself to _feel._

The first descriptor that came to mind was warmth, like being swaddled in an electric blanket or sitting next to a campfire with a cup of hot chocolate. It was a feeling of belonging and trust, of knowing that one had faith in these people implicitly. Without doubt. Without fear. Understanding that one's guardians would watch over them unconditionally and with unfailing love. Noah took a shuddering breath and placed a hand on her chest, her eyes scrunching shut against the sensation. Ichigo was happy, that could not be denied. Did she really have a place here, among such purity of spirit?

"Surely I'll just corrupt him…" Noah sighed, opening her eyes to stare at the palm of her hand like it held the answer. She knew in her heart that she was a selfish person, her deed of saving the boy's life was ultimately just an act of self-preservation. Her staunch refusal to be in control of Ichigo's body had been a backpedal in fear. She doubted that any interference on her part would do good in the long run, _I mean, Ichigo got hit by a car shortly after we met each other!_ Noah grimaced, her mind recalling how still the boy had looked on the street, blood creeping into the cracks of the pavement. "I doubt we'll have better luck in any other venture…" she grumbled aloud, kicking off the window to hover in the air again, a pensive expression on her face, "It would be best if I… limited my contact with him." Noah let out a heavy breath, glancing at the surrounding buildings with a bit of trepidation.

Could she really stand to stay here indefinitely?

As if reacting to her thoughts the buildings _rippled_ , like the structures all at once had an insatiable itch and were trying to shrug it off. Noah balked when the glass began to shatter and in a fit of fear, not wanting to experiment on whether or not she could get impaled for real, she made the first decision that came to mind and dove off the side of the building letting herself fall down the corridor.

That horrid sensation of wind whistling around her ears made Noah bite her lip in a grimace and her stomach churned at the feeling of weightlessness. Glancing back, the specter widened her eyes when she saw a hailstorm of debris rocketing down with her decent and making quite a bit of gain. Cursing vehemently, Noah shrieked when she faced forward again only to see her path ahead had been blocked by very large spear-like glass shards. Banking a hard left the spirit flew into a vacant alley, hearing a cacophonic crash as the pieces collided behind her.

Her haphazard turn slammed her into the wall and she tumbled head over heels along the building's surface, the momentum of her flight causing her to crash into the next building, the window pane shattering from the impact. She careened through blank corridors with white walls and drab carpeting, finally coming to a stop on some tile in a room that could be best described as an asylum's soup kitchen with a screeching halt on her face. Groaning, Noah winced as she sat up and rubbed her pained… well everything, "Why is it always the face?" she whined thickly, gingerly touching the inside of her mouth and removing her fingers to see them tinged with bloody saliva. "Oh GOOD!" Noah exclaimed sarcastically, spitting out a glob of red from biting her own cheek tissue, "This is just what I need! Blood in the goddamned water."

Surreptitiously checking her surroundings, Noah stood on wobbly knees, the unsanctioned flight causing the adrenaline to still course through her body and light it up like a live wire; her spirit energy glowing angrily on the surface of her skin, snapping in sparks of red. She didn't even know she could do that yet!

Rubbing her nose, Noah slowly inched to the door she had just passed through and glanced down the hallway, the area brightly lit despite there being no light sources along the corridor. She blinked at how far away her entrance was, the hole in the glass so distant that she had to squint in order to see it and wondered at the effect. Was this like the TARDIS and the building was actually bigger on the inside? Nothing from the manga had covered this sort of phenomena in Ichigo's inner world but she wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Urahara pulled that sort of shit in random places all the time so it wasn't too farfetched.

Besides, she had a sneaking suspicion that a certain resident within this world had something to do with the events that occurred outside. Thinking back on what happened made Noah realize that something hadn't been quite right with how the attacks had been handled. "If they actually wanted to kill me," Noah mused, sliding her eyes to a black door that stood imperiously on the other side of the kitchen, its dark color standing out among the various tints of white in the room, "then they could have done so with ease…" she pursed her lips as her grey eyes narrowed. Certainly, killing her would have been completely simple if all the windows had been activated at once throwing glass everywhere so there would be no escape. Instead it had come from one direction and blocked her path in another, "I was herded here." Noah hissed, grimacing deeply at the implication.

This was likely going to be a very uncomfortable conversation.

Giving a sour look at the conspicuous black door, Noah spoke loudly, "See, if you wanted to chat all this time it would have been far simpler to just _ask_ me, instead of, oh I don't know… attempted murder!" she shouted, stomping her foot indignantly and placing her hands on her thin hips. That little stunt probably just made her look even more like a child having a temper tantrum, but at the moment she couldn't give a rat's arse, the damned doppleganger entity just threatened her with millions of tiny sharp pointy objects so she was feeling obligated to her rage.

Instead of answering, which it shouldn't anyway because it was a damn door, it opened on eerily silent hinges displaying a dimly lit stairwell leading down. Noah worried her bottom lip at the blatant invitation and prayed to all things holy and bearded that this was not a trap.

With tremulous steps she made her way to the door, the darkness beyond becoming more and more like a yawning chasm the closer she drew. Licking her lips nervously at the threshold, Noah felt a chill crawl up her arms, an oppressive aura emanating from somewhere below. Taking in a shuddering breath, she placed her bandaged foot on the first step, a pervading cold creeping up the limb at the contact.

The hair on the nape of her neck stood on end.

Gulping audibly, Noah took another step and another and another after that. Carefully making her way down the metal stairwell with precise movements, her hand a vice-grip on the guard rail as she made her descent. A slow breeze billowed from above and Noah glanced upward only to see utter blackness. Sweat trickled down from her brow and over the curve of her cheek as the overwhelming atmosphere choked the air. She felt herself beginning to pant under the weight, "So this is what... spiritual pressure is like…" Noah gasped, nearly tipping over as her knees buckled, catching herself on the railing, "Man… it _sucks_!" All the times the characters had to deal with someone stronger than them they had to deal with this shit? How did anybody get anything done if getting someone angry just set them off like this? A smart person would just run to the hills at the first sign of danger.

Snorting, Noah pushed herself away from the death grip she had on the rail and continued her trek down the stairs, "Where would I... even be able to run to?" she asked wryly to the stairwell, which was looking less like basement access and more like a fire escape; her legs quaking with every step she took further into the yawning abyss. Sure she was absolutely scared shitless, but Noah reasoned that she'd made her bed so it was time to lie in it.

Even if that bed ended up being a coffin.

After what seemed like forever, with Noah almost coming to the conclusion that she was going to be trapped on these damned stairs like some poor sod on an M.C. Escher drawing, she finally set foot on something that was decidedly _not_ metal. Actually, she couldn't say exactly what the substance was because she had never before felt such a sensation on her bare feet before, let alone see it because it was pitch black. It was all at once solid and liquid, gas and void, emitting no light yet Noah could see her own hands just as well as if she were in broad daylight.

Further investigation yielded no structures within this abyss, and Noah felt her heart clench as even further inspection showed that the stairwell was nowhere to be seen. She looked frantically in all directions, but the infuriatingly long fire escape was not to be found. "Oh… this is just… perfect!" Noah squeaked, her grey eyes darting back and forth, hugging herself against the persistent chill in the air, hands clammy even through the fabric of her robes. Trapped! Completely and utterly trapped! She knew she shouldn't have trusted the asshole who psychokinetically threw glass at her; it was clearly too good to be true to just talk it out like normal mature adults. Truly, she was too gullible for her own good…

" **Ssssaaaaa…"**

Back standing ramrod straight so fast that she felt several bones crack, Noah spun on her heel and gasped at the looming figure that certainly hadn't been there previously. Hovering still like a puppet whose strings had been tangled, a Hollow stood out among the darkness, stark white in an endless abyss. Noah could not perceive the sheer size of the being, due to the nature of the place she was standing in; all depth perception was nullified within the space of nothingness, so her eyes could not decide whether he was really far away or hella close.

Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear… Er, hold on isn't that a sticker on a vehicle's door mirror? All silliness aside, Noah certainly wished she _was_ staring into a side view mirror right about now because she really didn't fancy being a pent-up and most likely _insane_ Hollow's snack. It would kinda ruin the whole, "I have no qualms about being in Ichigo's soul," thing. Though if she was being honest with herself, she'd probably do the same thing if she were in his position.

A delectable juicy soul-burger served up nice and fresh on a silver platter.

Mist snaked its way out of the Hollows parted mandibles as he breathed, his jaws making an audible click as the teeth clenched shut, cutting off the fog. Dark slanted eyeholes stared at the specter in judgement, the black pits standing out in stark contrast to the whiteness of the bone-like mask. His limbs hung limply around him like a lazy spider, the long arms and legs bound by a series of black chains stretching out into the abyss. If Noah remembered correctly, there had been a flashback at some point talking about how Ichigo inherited White from his mother and that Isshin's role in all of this had been initially to seal the Hollow, to keep it from consuming Masaki.

And a lot of half-cocked info about how Quincy were prone to infection from Hollows and a bunch of other crap that could have really just been left to conjecture or at least put into the Bleach equivalent of the Silmarillion. Because if we're being honest with ourselves, how important was all that information, really?

" **Do you make it a habit of talking to yourself, or is this a recent development?"**

Noah nearly leapt out of her skin as a deep voice muttered behind her, making her scramble away with a shrill shriek. She caught the image of a dark cloak and white collar, the glint of sweet yellow shades over a stubbled chin and the girl skid to an abrupt stop her shoulders rigid. Whipping back, she stared at the manifestation with her mouth in a wide "o," completely dumbstruck, "You're actually active?!" she blurted without thinking before slapping her hands over her mouth like it had just been burned.

' _Shit!'_

He tilted his head, the action combined with the hunch of his darkly cowled shoulders making the movement eerily bird-like, much like a hawk focusing in on the scrambling of a fleeing fieldmouse. **"You know me, yet I am certain we have never met…"** His eyes glared from behind the glasses and Noah gulped thickly under his scrutiny, **"You know a lot of things no one should, ghost. Events that I see have yet to-"**

"Get OUT of my head!" Noah shouted, her spirit energy crackling around her in a hail of red lightning, her expression twisted in fury, "Fucking RUDE! Don't poke around in my memories you jerk!"

The manifestation's lips tightened into a straight line, **"Memories… as in you've experienced those events. No, that is not it…"** he gave her a studious once over, seemingly ignoring the unspoken threat Noah had given in telling him to back off. **"More like… you've seen it. Still pictures in shades of grey… like a story."** A brief expression of disquiet twisted the cloaked man's features, reminding Noah that this was the representation of Ichigo's Quincy powers, the fragment of Yhwach that gave life and power to all Quincy.

The very same Yhwach that fancied himself a god.

Noah braced herself for a more unpleasant exchange, but faltered when he gave her a vulnerable look, **"Is this just a game for you?"** he asked, shoulders seeming to slump under some unseen weight.

Quirking an eyebrow, Noah gave him a bewildered expression, unconsciously relaxing her tensed legs from the flight response she had automatically fallen into. _What the hell?_ she wondered, eyeing him dubiously as he simply stood there, wondering why he didn't just attack or confine her immediately upon this revelation. "Game?" Noah voiced in confusion, furrowing her brow when he simply nodded in acquiescence. She wrinkled her nose at what his sentence implied, "If you're joking then it's in poor taste, Ossan. People's lives aren't a game no matter where your from, it's bad form and generally makes you an unlikeable person."

" **So what do the memories you hold mean?"** Ossan murmured, his eyes still piercing into her own, demanding answers. His demeanor was strange and Noah was trying to figure his angle here. Was the Old Man Zangetsu before her the same as the one that Ichigo would meet later or was this just a product of Yhwach's machinations? Did the other Quincy have a representation of their powers inside themselves like Ichigo does? If so, why is Ichigo's manifestation so intent on "protecting" him in the future if he is just a fragment of Yhwach's soul? And ultimately, would telling him anything screw everyone over in the end in case Yhwach had some sort of telepathic connection to his soul fragments, a la Zerg hivemind style?

Ugh, she was getting a headache.

Rubbing her temples, Noah glanced up at the manifestation with judging eyes, "What does it mean? Really? Your actually asking me that question? Because I'll be honest with you Ossan I didn't come here for shits and giggles." Grimacing, Noah cringed away from the strung up Hollow still looming above them, the creature taking another hissing breath before going quiet. "How can you stand listening to that?" she asked, completely derailing herself from the very serious conversation and flippantly throwing her thumb back at the slumbering parasite, "Doesn't that guy just freak you the fuck out? Because he really gives me the jeebs and he's hardly trying!"

The Quincy manifestation stood quietly for a moment, seemingly contemplating her words before shrugging, **"One gets used to it after a while.."**

Giving him a disbelieving stare that summarized all of her feelings on the subject into a look that screamed "really" Noah scoffed, "Yeah I doubt that. It's like trying to ignore your aunt's fat dog who is super inbred and morbidly obese, they kind of make themselves noticeable whether you like it or not."

" **You're trying to change the subject, Oracle."** Zangetsu-ossan warned, the reflection in his glasses obscuring his eyes for a moment.

Noah gave him her best resting bitch face, "Yeah, no. Don't call me that." she grumbled, crossing her arms into her sleeves. _Damn it, what did I expect?_ she chided herself as he observed her in turn, the feeling of respect growing as she inspected him. "You're pretty perceptive, but I'm no Oracle. It's just a…" Struggling for a moment, Noah felt unease at having to describe the knowledge that this world all just started as a comic book, Noah cringed at the potential fallout of releasing such information. Wouldn't do any good to have the power representation of this world's hero having an existential crisis just because she spilled the beans. Though it was a possibility that he already knew and had a greater mental fortitude than she assumed and she was being a total idiot.

She snorted and gave the man a lopsided grin instead, abandoning her previous statement, "Why do you bother even asking?" Noah queried, placing her hands on her hips and tilting her head at him questioningly, "You already know what I'm going to say... You've seen what is in my memories, so what's the whole point of this charade?"

Zangetsu-ossan gave her a single blink before answering, the slouch in his shoulders easing up somewhat, **"I needed to verify your integrity."**

"Integrity?" Noah wondered, scratching her head in confusion.

The manifestation simply nodded and explained, **"I wanted to be sure that you were honest… The images I saw or more accurately, the knowledge you hold could change everything. You have that power."** At that, Noah gave a derisive snort and the Old Man cocked his head at the sound, **"You do not agree?"**

"Hell no!" Noah barked, jabbing a thumb into her chest, "I dunno what else you saw in there dude, but a revolutionary is not one of them. I'm a coward through and through, I will only fight to live for myself! Visions of grandeur and saving the world?" she made an unattractive sound with her mouth that sounded like a duck being squeezed into a narrow tube, "Not my thing."

" **You wouldn't change anything? Not even to protect this woman?"** A shimmer of color appeared in the darkness next to the manifestation and Noah squinted as the colors shifted into a familiar scene. It was Masaki, reaching her hand down like she had done in the anime adaptation, her lips alight in a smile as she took Ichigo's hand. The rain falling down hard around them in shades of grey, the mother and child both splashes of light among the gloom

Frowning severely, Noah darted her eyes over to Zangetsu-ossan, "You trying to guilt trip me into changing events? That doesn't sound like something you'd advocate Old Man…" she sneered, an expression of mild disgust twisting her features, "But then again, considering your origins it's not terribly farfetched. Fragment or not you still fancy playing god..." A look of satisfaction relaxed her brow when the manifestation showed discomfort at her accusation, minor as it was with a simple shift of his posture. Noah crossed her arms and smiled wryly, "I'm not going to deny it, my coming here has already set into motion the ripples that will change the timeline, whether I want it to or not. I can't say for certain what will change in the future, I only know that it _will_." she snorted again as her arms uncrossed and fell limply to her sides, "As for my role in all of this, it'll be minimal if I stay here. Which is honestly for the best, I'm a terrible influen-"

" **You can't stay here."** Zangetsu-ossan interrupted, making Noah's mouth hang open at his declaration.

For a moment she was dumbstruck, like someone had given her a good sound slap across the face. Recovering with a shake of her head, Noah placed her hands on her hips and leaned forward, "And pray tell, why? As far as I know I can't just skip on out of here willie-nillie."

" **This realm…"** The manifestation began, his voice deepening ominously, making Noah straighten up again with a shiver, **"Is not meant to house the minds of the host. It serves as a meeting place for the mind to commune with the soul, to understand one's self."** He glared at her from behind his glasses, his dark mane of hair flowing freely around him, **"You are separate… An anomaly… Bound to his soul you may be, but you are still an independant entity. You have thoughts and feelings, coloring Ichigo's emotions with your own and without conscious thought; you do not have enough discipline to direct them."**

Noah gulped at the heavy feeling on her shoulders, the sense that something unpleasant was about to happen not lost on her. The Hollow sighed again from behind and she looked up only to jump as its face tilted in her direction. She started sweating under his gaze, the creature's mouth opening languidly in a mockery of laughter.

" **Undoubtedly, you would go mad staying here,"** Zangetsu-ossan continued and Noah snapped her head back to stare wildly at him, the knot of unease growing in her chest at every second.

" **You are dangerous."**

That was the only warning she received before she was slammed in the head from both sides, the grasping palm of the Quincy manifestation completely engulfing her face, while something cold and claw-like clenched the back of her head. _Holy shit is that the hollow?!_ she wondered in a panic, whimpering under the strain as both the Hollow and Old Man lifted her up, their palms pressing painfully into her skull.

" **Return from whence you came,** _ **LITTLE GHOST."**_ Something terrible uttered those words in tandem with Zangestus-ossan and Noah squealed in terror as the pressure increased on her head. Noah kicked her feel futily, struggling as the two entities squeezed her skull like a walnut. She felt something snap and she screamed high and loud as her vision ran red. The loud sound of rushing wind whipped up around her, drowning out her screams as the void engulfed her.

And then, silence.

xXx

You ever have that feeling like your a piece of taffy run through a puller machine? And you're just run through over and over again, stretched and pulled and twisted and knotted, then pulled all over again?

If you said yes than you're probably a fucking liar.

xXx

With a mighty wail that would make an ambulance proud, Noah shot out of Ichigo's body like a cannon. Flying out with a velocity that would have rivaled a demonic exorcism, the ghost tumbled through the air and ultimately phased through the outer wall and to the ground below. Her voice becoming more faint as the distance grew.

Ichigo on the other hand was looking around his hospital room with sleep stupid confusion. He'd been startled awake from a cool dream about a person in an orange suit with a gun arm shooting at some green and red bubble-things with pincers. Glancing dumbly at the window, which had been pulled back to allow fresh air in through the screen, Ichigo rubbed his eyes tiredly. Who was yelling really loud out there?

A venomous curse reached his ears and he blinked at the familiar voice, looking over to the window with growing incredulity. The muttering grew louder as the speaker drew closer and Ichigo pulled back the comforter of his bed excitedly and scrambled down to the floor. Finally after much grumbling a mop of familiar grey hair poked its way through his window screen and Noah floated in, gnawing on her bottom lip something fierce. Unable to contain himself any longer, the boy tackled the ghost in excitement, giggling loudly when she gave a protesting squawk at the unexpected treatment, "I knew you were real! I knew it!" he exclaimed, hugging her tightly.

Noah blinked as his face squashed her cheek, confusion twisting her expression, "What's going on?"

* * *

 **A/N:** Ahahahah... I had considered just leaving off at the moment when Noah gets squashed like a watermelon buuuuut I figured that would be a bit morbid for being that early in the story. Plus I was really REALLY wanting to write Ichi-chan because kids are adorable. :}

So what do you guys think? Is Noah going to be a good or bad influence on Ichigo? She certainly believes bad! XD


	4. She's Dead Jim

**A/N:** Welly Well Then! A new chapter is born!

I've been working on various stories (new and old) all at once (or whatever catches my fancy at the time), so that is in part why it took so long for me to generate an update. The other is that I'm actively searching for a new job right now... And that's always... _fun._

Anywho, enjoy the new chapter and tell me what you think. If you have any questions that you want answered right away, you can direct them to my Tumblr because I practically live on the site anyway. (Plus a good chance that I'll respond.) It's also where I post artwork for my stories and others, writing advice, and other things. So come swing by and check it out!

 **TUMBLR:** fanfiction-by-abalisk

* * *

Chapter 4: She's Dead, Jim

According to Ichigo, after Noah got him to calm down and managed to somehow translate through the child babble, several days passed while she was "away." Apparently, they had him talk to a psychologist to understand why he had willingly thrown himself in front of a vehicle as so many witnesses claimed and had put him under observation during that time. He'd said that the person watching him changed every so often and that they at first looked scary but he warmed up to them once they started talking. They were constantly asking how he felt and talked to him about nice things, like some of their own children or about something from their childhood.

Noah, after interpreting that conversation, cringed when she realized they'd put a six year old on suicide watch.

Not that she'd blame them. In their perspective, he did in fact leap in front of a moving car and then subsequently have a psychotic break in the hospital… Which of course he wouldn't be able to remember since he wasn't the one doing it in the first place.

 _Yay._

She imagined the psychologist was having a field day, especially when Ichigo claimed to have seen a girl that no one else saw and he only wanted to save her from the car. She could see it now, an old man wringing his knobby wrinkled hands and cooing over the psych report like a hen over a brood of eggs.

Taking a few steadying breaths, Noah rubbed at her brow, her legs crossed beneath her as Ichigo hummed happily nearby. He had been inordinately cheery ever since she made her grumbling entrance through his window and could honestly not fathom _why_. All of their encounters thus far had been nothing but negative interaction and Noah was intimately aware that she had been at total impatient asshat the entire time. If anything the boy should completely loathe her. Chancing a glance in his direction, she saw him fiddling around with the lint in between his toes before giving his fingers an experimental whiff. Gross.

Unable to take it, Noah reached out her hand and pried his arm away from his face, "That's disgusting don't do that." she growled, picking up a section of the blanket to wipe his hands off, "And keep your hands away from your dirty feet, it's unsanitary…"

"What's "in-santa-ri" mean?" Ichigo asked loudly, reaching a finger up to his nose before Noah snatched that away as well.

 _Seriously, this kid might as well be a walking biohazard_ , Noah grimaced, "You say it like "un-sani-tary" and it's just another way of saying dirty… which by the way, so is picking your nose. So don't do it." she implored with a hiss, giving a furtive look to the door leading to the hallway, trying to listen for any movement before turning her attention back to the boy, "Also, don't talk so loud, otherwise people are going to hear us."

"Are we hiding?" he asked at a slightly lower pitch. Which was still not quite a whisper, but Noah didn't expect anything less from a rambunctious six year old, so this was good enough for now. At her nod, Ichigo gave a mischievous smile, "Are we gonna play Hide n' Seek?"

Opening her mouth to say "no," Noah paused before closing her jaw with a click, a contemplative expression overcoming her features. She weighed her options; on one hand she could snoop around the Ishida patriarch's hospital in the dark of the night, which could be thrilling and informative if they found anything, or on the other she could stay cooped up in the small boring room with a kindergartener who was unfortunately way too excited to go back to sleep and would have to spend the entire time entertaining him until he finally zonked out.

So really, there was only one way to go about this.

"Yeah…" Noah enunciated slowly, rolling the word off her tongue with an amused quirk of her lips, "It'll be like Hide and Seek... only if any adults catch us we lose. So it's more like everyone else is the seeker but we are the hiders, kind of like Ghost in the Graveyard. You ever play that one?" Giving a mental snort at the irony of the name, Noah explained to Ichigo what it was when he gave a wide eyed shake of his head, "The person who is "it" hides while the seekers all look for the one hider, if someone finds you they have to yell out "Ghost in the Graveyard" and run back to base while you try to tag them."

His eyes widened to impossible proportions and Noah gave a half grimace when Ichigo breathed in awe, "I wanna play… Can we? Can we play now?" he begged, giving a gap-toothed grin as he bounced up and down, the bed making horrific shrieks every time his ass landed on the old mattress.

Groaning, Noah slapped her hands onto his shoulders to keep him down, "Yes we can play now," she growled, putting a finger to her lips and lowering her voice, "But you need to be quiet, otherwise you'll get caught."

That made him pause and his eyebrows screwed up into a confused knot, "Why just me? You're here too."

Noah sighed loudly and flopped over onto the bed in frustration, she hated explaining things twice, "Don't you remember anything I told you before you talked to your parents?" she asked dourly, flinging an arm over her eyes as she tried to wrangle her temper. _Just a kid. He's just a kid. Don't get mad. Just calm down._

Frowning, Ichigo pursed his lips and his brow gave a little wrinkle as he thought, "No, I talked to my Kaa-chan and Tou-chan a lot. Lotsa stuff happened..."

"Ugh. Alright how about this," Flipping back so she was sitting cross-legged again, Noah motioned to the window she had come through nearly an hour before, "I passed right through the glass of that window when I " _came back_ ," as you put it. Why do you think that is?" Crossing her arms she gave him a critical stare, willing him to put the pieces together.

Tilting his head, Ichigo answered almost immediately, "Cuz you're magic?"

Noah's eye gave an involuntary twitch and her "really" look instantly warp digivolved to a "are you fucking stupid" glower.

"Seriously." she intoned, her voice completely flat, "That is the first thing that comes to mind?"

"Well aren't you?" he questioned, scratching the back of his head in confusion. Noah could only just stare at him in complete bewilderment, he seriously had no idea.

Sighing for what must be the umpteenth time, Noah pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes in exasperation. This was so frustrating. This was the reason she didn't deal with kids, she wasn't good at it. Never had the patience for it. Even now this was proving to be a greater exercise on her mental faculties than she wanted. "One would think that "Ghost" would be the first thing to come to mind, but noooooo…" she grumbled under her breath, before looking over to the poor child that was soul bound to her, she frowned when he just blinked dumbly up at her. "Ghost." she repeated, like he hadn't heard her the first time, "That's what I am. I'm dead kiddo."

She would have made a joke saying something like "she's dead Jim," but he was only six, she doubted anything relating to internet meme culture would make a lick of sense. _God, nobody is going to get my jokes…_ Noah sighed.

For several moments, Ichigo performed a pretty decent imitation of a fish as his jaw bobbed up and down in an attempt to form words. It was pretty funny at first, but Noah started to grow worried when no sound was forthcoming and he grew paler and paler.

What really freaked Noah out though was when his face crumpled like a paper bag and a wailing keen sirened out of his tiny throat. It was like a miniature ambulance exploded in the room and Noah slapped her hands over her ears, her eyes wide.

She'd made him cry.

"Oh my God! You can't be serious, you're freaking out NOW?!" Noah bellowed over the child's panicked shrieks, floating up to the ceiling to get away from the bombardment of sound. She winced when his cries grew louder and he scrambled to escape into the safety of his blankets, wrapping the cloth around him like a cocoon. Scowling, Noah watched as the ball of human and blanket twitched and shivered with every sob, "How is finding out I'm a ghost make me any different from before?" she growled, placing her hands tentatively on her hips, worried that he might start up his emergency siren routine again.

A muffled response sounded out between wet sniffles and shaky breaths and Noah rolled her eyes at the unintelligible mutterings. "Gonna have to speak up kiddo, I can't hear you."

"Ghost's are bad!" he hoarsely shouted and Noah flinched at the abrupt change in volume, hoping against hope that no one heard him yelling. It was bad enough that he was already slated for psych evaluations, it wouldn't be in the kid's best interest to add another check mark on the list. Unless his psychiatrist was a psychic as well, there was no way in hell they wouldn't throw in frequent hallucinations on his medical record.

It would be the furthest from good if she got the kid landed in a mental ward.

So she sighed and sank down into the mattress next to him, the curve of her backside making barely a dip in the springy material. Ichigo stiffened as he felt the bed shift and he gave a startled jolt when Noah placed a gentle hand on his back. "Hey now, it's alright kid. I'm not going to do anything, I may be a little mean sometimes but I'm not bad." His sniffles died down a little bit, indicating to Noah that at the very least he was listening, "Besides, I don't think a bad ghost would take the time to talk to you and tell stories… or even explain a new game" she chuckled to herself and shook her head, gently caressing the boy's back.

She felt awkward, like she was back in first grade all over again trying to make new friends, a moment where one tried to find anything in common with the other person in order to make at least the connection between peers bearable. Noah was out of her element, only comfortable with people at a distance, she didn't do this "lean on me" friendship crap. But he was only a child, how could she do this?

Well here goes nothing...

"Sorry I yelled at you earlier and even before that, it wasn't very nice of me." Noah admitted, retracting her hand so that she could clench them together in her lap. "You're just a kid and I've been a really unpleasant ass to you since the beginning… I apologize if I've hurt your feelings or made you afraid." She frowned then, her eyes narrowing in on her tightly clasped hands, the knuckles nearly white, "I should know better…"

 _The sins of the father…_

Her lips tightened into a thin line.

"I-it's 'kay…" Ichigo finally murmured in an unconvincing manner, hesitantly poking his head out of the blankets, his eyes red from crying and trails of snot running from his nose. He looked a mess.

Noah scowled and despite her revulsion at the sight of the mucus, reached forward to wipe his nose and eyes with her sleeve, "No. It's not okay. Don't let anyone tell you it's okay for others to be mean to you for no reason. You deserve better than that." She sighed as he blinked at her in bafflement over her wet sleeve, he really was too young to understand, but maybe he'd get it over time. "Don't say you forgive someone if you don't mean it, it's okay to allow yourself to be mad, it's healthier that way. Not everyone deserves forgiveness."

Ichigo looked down, "But… But, you said sorry…" he muttered, his voice still emphasising his confusion. He didn't get it, but that was okay.

"Yeah," Noah confirmed with a small quirk of her lips and patting his head knowingly, "But I'm not expecting you to forgive me. I'm just acknowledging that I did something wrong and that I'll try to do better in the future."

"Oh…" he nodded in understanding even though she was certain he didn't, his head bowed as he inspected his toes; Noah really couldn't get what the fascination was, but maybe it was a nervous tick. Ichigo glanced up at her again with his large soulful eyes and whispered, "Can we play that game now? I promise t'be quiet…"

Grinning mischievously, Noah hopped off the bed and floated a few centimeters off the ground, her arms outstretched in a welcoming flourish, "Alright kid, let's go then! It's time to explore!"

xXx

Flying was by far the best thing to ever happen to Noah since her advent into this strange new world. For one, she didn't constantly trip all over the bandages on her legs, thus preventing herself from being thrown into the slapstick role of The Kluz; but most importantly it was just fun as all hell. All those long forgotten Peter Pan dreams of flying just because you believe were coming back in a sweet vengeance as she zipped around the corridor while Ichigo had to leg it on the floor.

It was glorious.

Placing a hand on his shoulder so Ichigo's momentum propelled her forward, Noah leaned close to whisper, "So… you got any ideas on what we'll find?" she questioned in a semi-excited tone. She'd never done something like this before in her previous life, so the whole experience was making her jittery with excitement. Noah felt like her young self again, breaking the rules and exploring forbidden or frightening locations just to get a thrill; it was very nostalgic.

Maybe her having a younger body had something to do with it? It didn't feel like a total bad thing, but it still sobered her up a bit. She tried not to think of it, those were questions for Future Noah.

Present Noah was going to have fun, damn it!

Sidling along a wall as they peered around a corner, Ichigo glanced up in contemplation as she rested her chin on to the top of his scalp, "I dunno, it's kinda 'cary..." he scrunched up his face before he gasped and tilted his head back, fulling gaping at her throat, "What if we find a dead person?!"

Ducking her chin down so she could bonk her forehead against his nose, Noah stared into his wide brown eyes, "Seeing as I too am a "dead person" as you so eloquently put it," she murmured dourly, "I doubt that's the worst thing we could find." Perking up, Noah grabbed the boy's face and squished his cheeks together, "Besides, I was asking about fun things. Fun things, Ichi! What if we find a lab or… ooooh a secret base!" She grinned garnering far too much entertainment from his own excited gasp, his eyes sparkling in wonder.

He really was just too precious.

A few minutes later found the two pretending to be secret agents as they slinked like cats through the hallways, their voices tuned very low every time they passed by a room to be sure no one came out to investigate. Noah chanted repetitive "agent" music in Ichigo's ears as they got caught up in their game, which made a host of stifled giggles erupt from their chests. Several times they had a scare when a nurse on night shift was found patrolling the halls, and the two would rush to hide behind cabinets, gurneys, or even empty rooms, waiting it out with bated breaths as they walked by.

There were moments however when they passed a room that a pervasive chill would overcome Noah's senses and she would push Ichigo into quickly vacating the area. Ichigo never really knew for sure what they were avoiding, but Noah had an inkling that she kept to herself. They were in a _hospital_ after all…

Still, despite Noah steering Ichigo down the correct paths of avoidance, it didn't take all that long for the two to finally meet their first apparition.

 _Little girls,_ Noah whined with dread, her eyes widening and the hair on the nape of her neck standing on end, _why is it always the little girls!_ To Ichigo she turned and gave a forced smile, "Heyyy! Why don't we go find the cafeteria? Maybe we can sneak some jello-"

"Who's that, Noah-chan?" Ichigo bluntly declared, pointing straight at the ghost who puttered to a stop, ceasing... whatever the hell it is ghost's do. Noah darted her eyes around, seeing that there were no side hallways or doors they could hide behind, they were in plain sight. Little doubt remained that the ghost heard them, she was clearly tilting her head in their direction. Slowly, the little girl turned around, her movements wooden and slouching...

Catching a glimpse of her face, Noah blanched and quickly twisted Ichigo around, shoving him none too gently in the opposite direction, "Nothing! That's no one Ichi," she replied in a very high voice, her vocal chords tight in her throat, ignoring his confused protests. _Nope. Nope. nopeNopeNOPE!_

Noah chanced a glance back and bit down a shriek when she saw the ghost following them, albeit at a much more sedate pace but pursuing none-the-less. Picking up the pace, Noah grabbed Ichigo's hand and ran, ducking into side corridors as quickly as she could, heading to the cafeteria. She wanted at the very least to avoid Ichigo seeing the thing, because she was certain it would traumatize him. The ghost looked to have had a bad end from what she could see, the little girl's face grossly disfigured beyond recognition.

 _He definitely doesn't need to see that,_ Noah reflected, pulling Ichigo into the nearest washroom and slapping a hand over his mouth when a nurse passed by. When the woman turned a corner and it looked to be that everything was clear, Noah released Ichigo with a troubled sigh.

She groaned quietly to herself, scrubbing her face with her hands, _This is too much…_ Noah lamented, sliding down the wall as a wave of fear crashed over her. _What the hell is a ghost like that doing in this place anyway? Shouldn't Ishida have wards or something over his hospital?_ She wondered, rubbing at her eyes for a moment before placing a hand over her own mouth in thought, _It's chain was pretty short… it'll go Hollow soon._ Glancing at Ichigo, she noted his concerned confusion as he watched her. He didn't know what was happening, but was keeping quiet like he promised… Such a good kid.

"Sorry Ichi, but we needed to get away from that girl." Noah confided, her voice pitched as low as possible, she didn't know if there was anyone around and she didn't want to take the chance.

"Why?" he breathed, scooting close to her so his face was mere centimeters from her own. She resisted to impulse to lean back, knowing it was the kid's way of hearing her better. Instead, Noah put a reassuring arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a tight side hug, knowing that the kid needed comfort and needing some reassurance of her own.

"T-that… That girl was a ghost… and was not a good one." she stuttered, cursing herself for being unable to hide the quiver in her voice. Squeezing his shoulder, she continued in a more even tone, "Just like with people, not all ghosts are good. Some of them will try to hurt you if they know you could see them." Looking to the boy, she saw he was gazing at her seriously, his small brow furrowed and a tiny frown on his pudgy face. If she were in a laughing mood she would have found it hilarious how much he looked like his teenage self.

But now was not the time for that.

"So… she was gonna hurt us?" Ichigo questioned, his eyes downcast. Noah felt a stab of guilt at that, remembering that he was only six years old, and had probably never dealt with any malicious intent in his entire life. It was likely a scary concept, that someone would hurt others for no reason other than because they could.

 _And to think, this sweet kid becomes one of the most notorious street fighters in the city when he's only in middle school,_ Noah thought bitterly, realizing just how much shit he had to have gone through to get to that point. How much hurting others became just another aspect of his life…

" _Can we play?"_ A chilling voice broke through her reverie and the two of them stiffened, Noah immediately grabbing Ichigo's face so he couldn't look. She was here, the ghost had found them. Hesitantly, Noah swiveled her eyes to pin the spirit with a wide eyed look, but the girl wasn't even looking at her.

Her cold dead eyes were only focused on Ichigo… or at least they would have been, if she had eyes.

Black empty holes bleeding a dark sludge, were all that remained; the sockets bare.

Noah gulped.

"Ichigo, don't look at her, just look at me." She ordered strongly, her statement brooking no room for argument, her fingers gripping tightly into the boy's cheeks. "First rule of dealing with evil spirits, don't make direct eye contact."

The girl spirit reached out, her hand cold and gray, peeling away in strips of flesh. She was falling apart, the hole in her chest was nearly open, her chain barely holding together with two links left. Noah knew she was going to hollowfy, there was nothing she could do. But…

"Second rule…" Noah started, grabbing Ichigo by the arm as the last link in the girl's chain shattered in a guttural moan.

"RUN!"

* * *

 **A/N:** And so our heroes have to deal with dark side of the spiritual world much earlier than in canon. Dear lord Noah, just what did you _do?!_

 **TUMBLR:** fanfiction-by-abalisk


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